Gemination and segmental patterns with reference to Sanskrit and Assamese: An OT account Hemanga Dutta Department of Linguistics and Contemporary English, School of Language Sciences, The English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, India Received 19 April 2017; received in revised form 15 October 2017; accepted 31 October 2017 Available online 19 February 2018 Abstract This paper addresses the issue of segmental distribution and patterns with reference to the gemination processes in Sanskrit and Assamese within an Optimality theoretic model (Prince and Smolensky, 1993). Segmental properties inherent in a segment and cross-linguistic well formedness conditions play a significant role in triggering gemination. The underlying liquids and approximants /j/, /r/, /l/, and /w/ trigger gemination of the preceding obstruents in Assamese. However, what has been conspicuously observed in synchronic Assamese grammar is that, in the surface forms, /j/ gets dropped in gemination and a process of metathesis occurs in the form of an insertion of a vowel before the geminates. The process is analyzed in an Optimality theoretic model and I have proposed the ranking *CCG>>MAX C>> Linearity to represent the phenomenon. However, we need one more markedness constraint *V[back, round]glides to address the issue of obstruent geminates followed by approximant ‘w’. In such cases ‘w’ gets dropped in the surface form, and we do not get any process of metathesis operating here. Actually, what happens is a consequence of the fact that metathesis is not possible because Assamese does not allow / ɔw / or /Vu/ diphthongs. Hence, I propose that the constraints *V[back, round]glides, *Cw are higher ranked over [Max Round>>Max W] and Linearity. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Segmental distribution; Constraint rankings; Gemination; Optimality 1. Introduction Gemination patterns in Sanskrit have been addressed by several theories in Phonology. The works of Vaux (1992), Whitney (1868) and Wackernagel (1896) take into consideration the graphic doubling of consonants, observed in several ancient Sanskrit manuscripts. The later stage of Sanskrit, especially Middle Indic, demonstrates the presence of undeniable phonetic geminates with reference to graphic doubling. Saussure (1889) claims that the stop in stop-sonorant Sanskrit clusters always gets geminated, although it may not have a graphic representation. According to Hock (1991a,b) gemination occurs as a compromise between two possible syllabifications i.e. (VC) (RV) and (V) (CRV). The same idea has been pursued by Vennemann (1988) and Vaux (1992). Calabrese (2009) proposes that the avoidance of complex onsets and codas is the reason the reasons behind the occurrence of gemination in Sanskrit and Middle Indic. In this paper I claim that the obstruent in word medial obstruent sonorant clusters in Sanskrit and Assamese undergoes gemination in order to repair the violation of the Syllable Contact Law. The Syllable Contact Law is based on the sonority principle. Vennemann (1988) defines syllable contact in the following way: www.elsevier.com/locate/lingua Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Lingua 203 (2018) 102--110 E-mail address: hemangadutta1@gmai.com. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2017.10.009 0024-3841/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.